Editing Arabization (section)

==History of Arabization==
[[File:Map of expansion of Caliphate.svg|thumb|Arab conquests 622 CE to 750 CE|292x292px]]

===Arabization during the early Caliphate===
{{main|Early Muslim conquests}}

The most significant wave of "Arabization" in history followed the [[early Muslim conquests]] of Muhammad and the subsequent [[Rashidun]] and [[Umayyad]] [[Caliphates]]. These Arab empires were the first to grow well beyond the Arabian Peninsula, eventually reaching as far as [[Al-Andalus|Iberia]] in the West and Central Asia to the East, covering {{convert|11100000|km2|sqmi|-5|abbr=on}},<ref name="Taagepera496">{{cite journal|author=Rein Taagepera|author-link=Rein Taagepera|date=September 1997|title=Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia|journal=[[International Studies Quarterly]]|volume=41|issue=3|page=496|doi=10.1111/0020-8833.00053|jstor=2600793|url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/3cn68807|url-access=subscription}}</ref> one of the [[List of largest empires|largest imperial expanses in history]].

===Southern Arabia===
{{Further|Southern Arabia}}

South Arabia is a historical region that consists of the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula, mainly centered in what is now the Republic of Yemen, yet it also included Najran, Jizan, and 'Asir, which are presently in Saudi Arabia, and the Dhofar of present-day Oman.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

[[Old South Arabian]] was driven to extinction by the Islamic expansion, being replaced by [[Classical Arabic]] which is written with the [[Arabic script]].{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} The [[South Arabian alphabet]] which was used to write it also fell out of use.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} A separate branch of [[South Semitic languages|South Semitic]], the [[Modern South Arabian languages]] still survive today as spoken languages in southern of present-day Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Dhofar in present-day Oman.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Although [[Yemen]] is traditionally held to be the homeland of the [[Qahtanite|Qahtanite Arabs]] who, according to some Arab traditions, are "pure" Arabs; however, most<ref>Nebes, Norbert, "Epigraphic South Arabian," in Uhlig, Siegbert, ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'' (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005), p. 335</ref><ref>Leonid Kogan and [[Andrey Korotayev]]: Sayhadic Languages (Epigraphic South Arabian) // Semitic Languages. London: Routledge, 1997, pp. 157-183.</ref> of the sedentary Yemeni population did not speak [[Old Arabic]] prior to the spread of [[Islam]], and spoke the extinct [[Old South Arabian|Old South Arabian languages]] instead.<ref>Nebes, Norbert, "Epigraphic South Arabian," in Uhlig, Siegbert, ed. ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'' (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005), p. 335</ref><ref>Leonid Kogan and [[Andrey Korotayev]]: Sayhadic Languages (Epigraphic South Arabian) // Semitic Languages. London: Routledge, 1997, p[. 157-183.</ref>

===Eastern and Northern Arabia===
{{Further|Eastern Arabia|Bahrani people|Dilmun civilization}}
[[File:WLA_metmuseum_Sword_and_scabbard_Iran_7th_century.jpg|thumb|Sassanian weaponry, 7th century]]

[[Pre-Islamic Arabia|Before the 7th century]] [[Common Era|CE]], the population of Eastern Arabia consisted of [[Arab Christians|Christian Arabs]], [[Zoroastrian]] Arabs, [[Mizrahi Jews|Jews]], and [[Aramaic]]-speaking agriculturalists.<ref name="orig">{{cite web|url=http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7942/1/7942_4940.PDF?+UkUDh:CyT|title=Social and political change in Bahrain since the First World War|pages=46–47|work=[[Durham University]]|year=1973}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJLjAKH7-rIC&pg=PR24|title=Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary|work=Clive Holes|year=2001|pages=XXIV-XXVI|isbn=978-90-04-10763-2|last1=Holes|first1=Clive|publisher=BRILL }}</ref><ref name="om">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W8glrgh87kEC&pg=PA305|title=Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Language And Literature|work=J R Smart|year=2013|page=305|isbn=978-0-7007-0411-8|last1=Smart |first1=J. R. |publisher=Psychology Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Va6oSxzojzoC&pg=PA98|title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Volume 5|work= M. Th. Houtsma|page=98|year=1993|isbn=978-90-04-09791-9|last1=Houtsma|first1=M. Th|publisher=BRILL }}</ref> Some sedentary dialects of Eastern Arabia exhibit [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] and [[Syriac language|Syriac]] features.<ref name="per">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJLjAKH7-rIC&pg=PR29|title=Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary|work=Clive Holes|year=2001|pages=XXIX-XXX|isbn=978-90-04-10763-2|last1=Holes|first1=Clive|publisher=BRILL }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_uhvUA428fcC&pg=PA269|title=Non-Arabic Semitic elements in the Arabic dialects of Eastern Arabia|work=Clive Holes|pages=270–279|year=2002|isbn=978-3-447-04491-2|last1=Jastrow|first1=Otto|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag }}</ref> The sedentary people of ancient Bahrain were Aramaic speakers and to some degree Persian speakers, while Syriac functioned as a [[liturgical language]].<ref name="om"/>

Even within Northern Arabia, Arabization occurred to non-Arab populations such as the [[Hutaym]] in the northwestern Arabia and the [[Solluba]] in the Syrian Desert and the region of Mosul.<ref name="Levinson314">{{Harvnb|Levinson|1995|p=314}}</ref>

===The Levant===
{{See also|Muslim conquest of the Levant|Arab migrations to the Levant}}

Prior to the Islamic conquests, Arabs and Arabic inscriptions existed in the region; The roman emperor [[Philip the Arab]] was born in what is now [[Bosra]], Syria. The [[Emesene dynasty|Emasene dynasty]] were a Roman client dynasty of Syrian priest-kings known to have ruled by 46&nbsp;BCE from [[Al-Rastan|Arethusa]] and later from [[Emesa]], [[Roman Syria|Syria]], until between 72 and 78/79 and they were of [[Arab]] origin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bowman |first1=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MNSyT_PuYVMC&q=Emesa+dynasty+arab+city&pg=PA502 |title=The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 12, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337 |last2=Garnsey |first2=Peter |last3=Cameron |first3=Averil |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521301992 |language=en}}; {{cite book |last1=Hornblower |first1=Simon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVWcAQAAQBAJ&q=%22arab+kingdom%22+emesa&pg=PA754 |title=The Oxford Classical Dictionary |last2=Spawforth |first2=Antony |last3=Eidinow |first3=Esther |date=2012 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780199545568 |language=en}}; {{harvnb|Ball|2000}}; {{cite book |last1=Burns |first1=Jasper |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hL99AgAAQBAJ&q=Emesa+arab+tribe&pg=PA181 |title=Great Women of Imperial Rome: Mothers and Wives of the Caesars |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134131853 |language=en}}; {{cite book |last1=Prado |first1=Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zHbXDgAAQBAJ&q=emesa+arab&pg=PA191 |title=Varian Studies Volume One: Varius |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=9781443893855 |language=en}}; {{harvnb|Birley|2002}}; {{cite book |last=Shahid |first=Irfan |title=Rome and The Arabs: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Byzantium and the Arabs |date=1984 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |isbn=0884021157 |page=37}}; {{cite book |last1=Freisenbruch |first1=Annelise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VUR_3B97ctQC&q=%22arab+kingdom%22+emesa&pg=PA182 |title=Caesars' Wives: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Roman Empire |date=2011 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781416583059 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Icks |first=Martijn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_g-MDwAAQBAJ&dq=Emesa+phoenician&pg=PA46 |title=The Crimes of Elagabalus: The Life and Legacy of Rome's Decadent Boy Emperor |date=30 August 2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9780857720177 |pages=46}}</ref> The [[Safaitic]] (named after [[Al-Safa (Syria)|Al-Safa region]] in Syria) inscriptions of old Arabic existed in [[Harrat al-Sham]], the script existed in the period from the 1st century BCE to the 4th century CE.

On the eve of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] conquest of the Levant, 634&nbsp;CE, Syria's population mainly spoke Aramaic; Greek was the official language of administration. [[#The Levant|Arabization]] and [[Islamization]] of Syria began in the 7th century, and it took several centuries for Islam, the Arab identity, and language to spread;{{sfn|al-Hassan|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FUPnSxbUREgC&pg=PA59 59]}} the Arabs of the caliphate did not attempt to spread their language or religion in the early periods of the conquest, and formed an isolated aristocracy.{{sfn|Schulze|2010|p=19}} The Arabs of the caliphate accommodated many new tribes in isolated areas to avoid conflict with the locals; caliph [[Uthman]] ordered his governor, [[Muawiyah I]], to settle the new tribes away from the original population.{{sfn|Kennedy|1992|p= 292}} Syrians who belonged to [[Monophysitism|Monophysitic]] denominations welcomed the peninsular Arabs as liberators.{{sfn|Barker|1966|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=LiJljEXvwAoC&pg=PA244 244]}}

The [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasids]] in the eighth and ninth century sought to integrate the peoples under their authority, and the Arabization of the administration was one of the tools.{{sfn|Braida|2012|p= 183}} Arabization gained momentum with the increasing numbers of Muslim converts;{{sfn|al-Hassan|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FUPnSxbUREgC&pg=PA59 59]}} the ascendancy of Arabic as the formal language of the state prompted the cultural and linguistic assimilation of Syrian converts.{{sfn|Peters|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=HYJ2c9E9IM8C&pg=PA191 191]}} Those who remained [[Christianity in Syria|Christian]] also became Arabized;{{sfn|Braida|2012|p= 183}} it was probably during the Abbasid period in the ninth century that Christians adopted Arabic as their first language; the first translation of the gospels into Arabic took place in this century.{{sfn|Braida|2012|p= 182}} Many historians, such as [[Claude Cahen]] and Bernard Hamilton, proposed that the Arabization of Christians was completed before the [[First Crusade]].{{sfn|Ellenblum|2006|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oiYgyRyL97oC&pg=PA53 53]}} By the thirteenth century, Arabic language achieved dominance in the region and its speakers became Arabs.{{sfn|al-Hassan|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FUPnSxbUREgC&pg=PA59 59]}}

===Egypt===
{{See also|Muslim conquest of Egypt}}

Prior to the Islamic conquests, Arabs had been inhabiting the [[Sinai Peninsula]], the [[Eastern Desert|Eastern desert]] and [[Sharqia Governorate|eastern Delta]] for centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9xj820qg |title=The History of the Peoples of the Eastern Desert |date=2012-10-01 |isbn=978-1-931745-96-3 |language=en|last1=Barnard |first1=H. |last2=Duistermaat |first2=Kim |publisher=Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press }}</ref> These regions of Egypt collectively were known as "Arabia" to the contemporary historians and writers documenting them.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Macdonald |first=Michael C. A. |title=Arabians, Arabias, and the Greeks_Contact and Perceptions |url=https://www.academia.edu/4593009 |website=Academia}}</ref> Several pre-Islamic Arab kingdoms, such as the [[Qedarites|Qedarite Kingdom]], extended into these regions. Inscriptions and other archeological remains, such as bowls bearing inscriptions identifying [[Qedarites|Qedarite]] kings and [[Nabataeans|Nabatean]] Arabic inscriptions, affirm the Arab presence in the region.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://brill.com/view/title/35887 |title=To the Madbar and Back Again: Studies in the languages, archaeology, and cultures of Arabia dedicated to Michael C.A. Macdonald |date=2017-11-20 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-35761-7 |editor-last=Nehmé |editor-first=Laïla |language=en |editor-last2=Al-Jallad |editor-first2=Ahmad |editor-last3=Nehmé |editor-first3=Laïla |editor-last4=Al-Jallad |editor-first4=Ahmad |editor-last5=Nehmé |editor-first5=Laïla |editor-last6=Al-Jallad |editor-first6=Ahmad}}</ref>  Egypt was conquered from the [[Byzantine Empire|Romans]] by the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] in the 7th century CE. The [[Coptic language]], which was written using the [[Coptic script|Coptic variation]] of the [[Greek alphabet]], was spoken in most of Egypt prior to the Islamic conquest. Arabic, however, was already being spoken in the eastern fringes of Egypt for centuries prior to the arrival of Islam.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Vollandt |first1=Ronny |last2=Al-Jallad |first2=Ahmad |date=2020-01-01 |title=Al-Jallad. 2020. The Damascus Psalm Fragment: Middle Arabic and the Legacy of Old Ḥigāzī, w. a contribution by R. Vollandt |url=https://www.academia.edu/43189829 |journal=Oriental Institute}}</ref> By the [[Mamluk Sultanate|Mameluke]] era, the Arabization of the [[Egyptians|Egyptian]] populace alongside a shift in the majority religion going from Christianity to Islam, had taken place.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Berkes |first=Lajos |date=2018 |title=On Arabisation and Islamisation in Early Islamic Egypt. I. Prosopographic Notes on Muslim Officials |url=https://www.academia.edu/39225280 |journal=Chronique d'Égypte |volume=93 |issue=186 |pages=415–420 |doi=10.1484/J.CDE.5.117663 |issn=0009-6067}}</ref>

===The Maghreb===
{{See also|Muslim conquest of the Maghreb|Arab migrations to the Maghreb}}

Neither North Africa nor the Iberian Peninsula were strangers to [[Semitic people|Semitic culture]]: the [[Phoenicians]] and later the [[Carthaginians]] dominated parts of the North African and Iberian shores for more than eight centuries until they were suppressed by the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] and by the following [[Vandal]] and [[Visigoth]]ic invasions, and the [[Berber people|Berber]] incursions.

From the [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb]] in the 7th century, Arabs began to [[Arab migration to the Maghreb|migrate to the Maghreb]] in several waves. Arab migrants settled in all parts of the Maghreb, coming as peaceful newcomers who were welcomed everywhere, establishing large Arab settlements in many areas.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Elfasi |first1=M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tw0Q0tg0QLoC&pg=PA243 |title=Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century |last2=Hrbek |first2=Ivan |last3=Africa |first3=Unesco International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of |date=1988-01-01 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-101709-4 |pages=243 |language=en}}</ref> In addition to changing the population's demographics, the early migration of Arab tribes resulted in the Arabization of the native [[Berbers|Berber]] population. This initial wave contributed to the Berber adoption of [[Arab culture]]. Furthermore, the [[Arabic|Arabic language]] spread during this period and drove local [[Latin]] ([[African Romance]]) into extinction in the cities. The Arabization took place around Arab centres through the influence of Arabs in the cities and rural areas surrounding them.<ref name=":62">{{Cite book |last=Duri |first=A. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=32sBxqIgcZMC&pg=PA71 |title=The Historical Formation of the Arab Nation (RLE: the Arab Nation) |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-62286-8 |pages=70–74 |language=en}}</ref>

Arab political entities in the Maghreb such as the [[Aghlabids]], [[Idrisid dynasty|Idrisids]], [[Emirate of Nekor|Salihids]] and [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimids]], were influential in encouraging Arabization by attracting Arab migrants and by promoting Arab culture. In addition, disturbances and political unrest in the [[Mashriq]] compelled the Arabs to migrate to the Maghreb in search of security and stability.<ref name=":62"/>

After establishing [[Cairo]] in 969, the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimids]] left rule over Tunisia and eastern Algeria to the local [[Zirid dynasty]] (972–1148).<ref name="stearns">{{cite book |last1 = Stearns|first1 = Peter N.|last2 = Leonard Langer|first2 = William|title = The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged|url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaworl00stea|url-access = limited|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]]|year = 2001|edition = 6|pages = [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaworl00stea/page/n2476 129]–131|isbn = 978-0-395-65237-4}}</ref> In response to the Zirids later declaring independence from the Fatimids, the Fatimids dispatched large [[Bedouin]] Arab tribes, mainly the [[Banu Hilal]] and [[Banu Sulaym]], to defeat the Zirids and settle in the Maghreb. The invasion of Ifriqiya by the Banu Hilal, a warlike Arab [[Bedouin]] tribe, sent the region's urban and economic life into further decline.<ref name="stearns" /> The Arab historian [[Ibn Khaldun]] wrote that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert.<ref name="islamic-dynasties">{{cite book |last = Singh|first = Nagendra Kr|title = International encyclopaedia of islamic dynasties|volume = 4: A Continuing Series|publisher = Anmol Publications PVT. LTD.|year = 2000|pages = 105–112|isbn = 978-81-261-0403-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.galtoninstitute.org.uk/Newsletters/GINL9603/PopCrises3.htm |title=Populations Crises and Population Cycles, Claire Russell and W.M.S. Russell |publisher=Galtoninstitute.org.uk |access-date=19 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527170154/http://www.galtoninstitute.org.uk/Newsletters/GINL9603/PopCrises3.htm |archive-date=27 May 2013 }}</ref>  The Fatimid caliph instructed the Bedouin tribes to rule the Maghreb instead of the Zirid emir [[Al-Mu'izz ibn Badis|Al-Mu'izz]] and told them "I have given you the Maghrib and the rule of al-Mu'izz ibn Balkīn as-Sanhājī the runaway slave. You will want for nothing." and told Al-Mu'izz "I have sent you horses and put brave men on them so that God might accomplish a matter already enacted". Sources estimated that the total number of Arab nomads who migrated to the Maghreb in the 11th century was at around 1 million Arabs.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last1=Hareir |first1=Idris El |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVYT4Kraym0C |title=The Spread of Islam Throughout the World |last2=Mbaye |first2=Ravane |date=2011-01-01 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-104153-2 |pages=409 |language=en}}</ref> There were later Arab migrations to the Maghreb by [[Maqil]] and [[Beni Ḥassān|Beni Hassan]] in the 13th-15th century and by [[Al-Andalus|Andalusi]] refugees in the 15th–17th century.
[[File:Chief_of_Mascara.jpg|thumb|Banu Hilal, Emir of Mascara in western Algeria, 1856]]
The migration of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym in the 11th century had a much greater influence on the process of Arabization of the population than did the earlier migrations. It played a major role in spreading [[Bedouin Arabic]] to rural areas such as the countryside and steppes, and as far as the southern areas near the [[Sahara]].<ref name=":62"/> It also heavily transformed the culture of the Maghreb into Arab culture, and spread nomadism in areas where agriculture was previously dominant.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=el-Hasan |first=Hasan Afif |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zr2XDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |title=Killing the Arab Spring |date=2019-05-01 |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=978-1-62894-349-8 |pages=82 |language=en}}</ref>

===Al-Andalus===
After the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania]], under the [[Arab]] [[Al-Andalus|Muslim rule]] Iberia (''al-Andalus'') incorporated elements of Arabic language and culture. The [[Mozarab]]s were [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] [[Christians]] who lived under Arab Islamic rule in [[Al-Andalus]]. Their descendants remained unconverted to [[Islam]], but did however adopt elements of Arabic language and [[Arab culture|culture]] and dress. They were mostly [[Roman Catholics]] of the [[Mozarabic Rite|Visigothic or Mozarabic Rite]]. Most of the Mozarabs were descendants of [[Hispania|Hispano]]–[[Visigoths|Gothic]] Christians and were primarily speakers of the [[Mozarabic language]] under Islamic rule. Many were also what the [[Arabist]] Mikel de Epalza calls ''"Neo-Mozarabs"'', that is [[Northern Europe]]ans who had come to the Iberian Peninsula and picked up Arabic, thereby entering the Mozarabic community.

Besides Mozarabs, another group of people in Iberia eventually came to surpass the Mozarabs both in terms of population and Arabization. These were the Muladi or [[Muwallad]]un, most of whom were descendants of local Hispano-Basques and Visigoths who converted to Islam and adopted Arabic culture, dress, and language. By the 11th century, most of the population of al-Andalus was Muladi, with large minorities of other Muslims, Mozarabs, and [[Sephardic Jews]]. It was the Muladi, together with the Berber, Arab, and other ([[Saqaliba]] and [[Zanj]]) Muslims who became collectively termed in Christian Europe as "[[Moors]]".

The [[Andalusian Arabic]] was spoken in Iberia during Islamic rule.

===Sicily, Malta, and Crete===
A similar process of Arabization and Islamization occurred in the [[Emirate of Sicily]] (''Ṣiqilliyyah'') and Malta (''Mālṭā''), and the [[Emirate of Crete]] (''Iqrīṭish'' or ''Iqrīṭiya''), during this period some segments of the populations of these islands converted to [[Islam]] and began to adopt elements of [[Arab culture|Arabic culture]], [[tradition]]s, and [[Tradition|customs]]. The Arabization process also resulted in the development of the now extinct [[Siculo-Arabic]] language, from which the modern [[Maltese language]] derives.<ref>{{citation|title=A Semitic Maltese Inventory With a Possible Siculo-Arabic Intervention.|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43530372|author=Dionisius A. Agius|access-date=4 March 2025}}</ref> By contrast, the present-day [[Sicilian language]], which is an [[Italo-Dalmatian languages|Italo-Dalmatian Romance language]], retains very little Siculo-Arabic, with its influence being limited to some 300 words.<ref>{{cite book|author1= Ruffino, Giovanni|title= Sicilia|pages=18–20 |date=2001| publisher=Editori Laterza, Bari }}</ref>

===Sudan===
Contacts between Nubians and Arabs long predated the coming of Islam,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Emberling |first1=Geoff |title=The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia |date=January 15, 2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=9780197521830 |pages=788}}</ref> but the Arabization of the Nile Valley was a gradual process that occurred over a period of nearly one thousand years. Arab [[nomad]]s continually wandered into the region in search of fresh pasturage, and Arab seafarers and merchants traded at [[Red Sea]] ports for spices and slaves. Intermarriage and assimilation also facilitated Arabization. Traditional genealogies trace the ancestry of the Nile valley's area of Sudan mixed population to Arab tribes that migrated into the region during this period. Even many non-Arabic-speaking groups claim descent from Arab forebears. The two most important Arabic-speaking groups to emerge in Nubia were the [[Ja'Alin|Ja'alin]] and the [[Juhaynah]].[[File:Migration of Arabs into Sudan.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Map showing the late medieval migration of Arabs into Sudan]] 
In the 12th century, the Arab Ja'alin tribe migrated into [[Nubia]] and [[Sudan]] and gradually occupied the regions on both banks of the [[Nile]] from [[Khartoum]] to [[Abu Hamad]]. They trace their lineage to [[Abbas ibn 'Abdul Muttalib|Abbas]], uncle of the [[Islam]]ic prophet [[Muhammad]]. They are of Arab origin, but now of mixed blood mostly with Northern Sudanese and [[Nubians]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=103}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSDBkKgNgx8C&q=jaalin&pg=PA16|title=Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 17|author=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, JSTOR (Organization)|year=1888|page=16|access-date=8 May 2011}}</ref> In the 16th and 17th centuries, new Islamic kingdoms were established – the [[Funj Sultanate]] and the [[Sultanate of Darfur]], starting a long period of gradual [[Islamization]] and [[#Arabization in Sudan|Arabization]] in Sudan. These sultanates and their societies existed until the Sudan was conquered by the [[Egyptian conquest of Sudan (1820–1824)|Ottoman Egyptian invasion]] in 1820, and in the case of Darfur, even until 1916.<ref>Alan Moorehead, ''The Blue Nile'', revised edition. (1972). New York: Harper and Row, p. 215</ref>

In 1846, Arab [[Rashaida people|Rashaida]], who speak [[Hejazi Arabic]], migrated from the [[Hejaz]] in present-day Saudi Arabia into what is now [[Eritrea]] and north-east Sudan, after tribal warfare had broken out in their homeland.  The Rashaida of Sudan live in close proximity with the [[Beja people]], who speak [[Bedawiyet|Bedawiye]] dialects in eastern Sudan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.madote.com/2010/02/eritrea-rashaida-people.html|title=Eritrea: The Rashaida People|publisher=Madote.com|access-date=11 December 2014}}</ref>

===The Sahel===
{{main|Baggara}}
[[Image:Baggara belt.png|thumb|right|300px|Baggara belt]]

In [[Middle Ages|medieval times]], the [[Baggara Arabs]], a grouping of Arab ethnic groups who speak [[Shuwa Arabic]] (which is one of the regional [[varieties of Arabic]] in Africa), migrated into Africa, mainly between [[Lake Chad]] and southern [[Kordofan]].

Currently, they live in a belt which stretches across [[Sudan]], [[Chad]], [[Niger]], [[Nigeria]], [[Cameroon]], [[Central African Republic]] and [[South Sudan]] and they number over six million people. Like other Arabic speaking tribes in the [[Sahara]] and the [[Sahel]], Baggara tribes have origin ancestry from the [[Juhaynah]] Arab tribes who migrated directly from the [[Arabian peninsula]] or from other parts of [[north Africa]]. {{sfn|deWaal|Flint|2006|pp=9}}

Arabic is an official language of Chad and Sudan as well as a [[national language]] in Niger, [[Mali]], [[Senegal]], and South Sudan. In addition, Arabic dialects are spoken of minorities in [[Nigeria]], [[Cameroon]], and [[Central African Republic]].